Seattle Metropolitan Elections Committee (SEAMEC) gives Mallahan only "Excellent" interview rating in Mayor's race

SEAMEC:

Mayor
Joe Mallahan 3 A A A A A
Mike McGinn 3 A A B B B
Jan Drago 3 B B B B B

SEAMEC has been interviewing, educating, and rating candidates on issues of importance to the LGBT community since 1977

INTERVIEW GRADES
To the right of the SEAMEC Fair-ness Rating are the interview letter grades, which are the me-dian grades given by the in-person interview panelists. (Panels typi-cally consist of 3-8 volunteers, the total number of which varies from interview to interview.) The scale used by the interview panelists is as follows:
A B C D F
Excellent Good Fair Poor Failed

What I'm feelin' (video)

BenKarbie, video (02:34).

"Nickels hits back at opponents' 'distortions,' 'half truths'"

Chris Grygiel (Strange Bedfellows):

With a week to go before the Aug. 18 primary, Mayor Greg Nickels is done playing Mr. Nice Guy.

Nickels, who polls show is vulnerable, has been in the field with commercials highlighting his accomplishments and his mea culpa for unnamed mistakes. Nickels' campaign spokesman, Sandeep Kaushik, said the two-term incumbent was trying to run a positive campaign.

"But rather than reciprocating by laying out an alternative vision of their own, our challengers have relied mostly on potshots and distortions in an attempt to mislead voters. It is time to set the record straight," Kaushik said.

Nickels' campaign said Monday evening it would begin placing thousands of robo-calls to Seattle residents "to clear up the distortions and half truths about candidate Mike McGinn's position on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. McGinn has used mailings and multiple rounds of push polling to create the erroneous impression among many voters that he is an advocate for lower taxes. In fact, the opposite is true. His actual position on the Viaduct – which he leaves out of his communications with city voters -- would involve tearing up the existing agreement with the state in order to take down the Viaduct and replace it with surface streets. This option would still require $930 million from Seattle taxpayers."

Kaushik said McGinn, the former Sierra Club leader who has made opposition to the viaduct tunnel replacement the centerpiece of his campaign, is being hypocritical when he says he opposes the tunnel because it would be the largest tax increase in Seattle history.

"According to Mike McGinn's own campaign logic, he actually favors the largest tax increase in Seattle history," Kaushik said.

Nickels will address what he considers the distortions of other candidates in the next few days, Kaushik said.

"Insurance companies versus health care reform" (video)

MSNBC-ED Show, video (06:01).

Howie P.S: ED talks with director Robert Greenwald about his new film "Sick for Profit."

Ari Melber on health care: "Are liberals being too weak?" (video)

MSNBC, video (03:58).

"Newt Gingrich Scaremongering, Howard Dean as Usual the Voice of Reason on Health-Care Reform" (with video)

Susie Madrak (Crooks and Liars) with video (09:04):

(h/t Heather)

It could have been "The Clash of the Titans," but Howard Dean was, as usual, a class act when he appeared this morning on This Week with Newt Gingrich to talk about health-care reform. If President Obama had put him in charge of selling the health reform effort, we probably wouldn't be having all these problems right now:

DEAN:I think putting $60 billion a year into the health insurance industry is insane. I really do.

And so you want a public option. Look, we've -- what the president wants to do is very straightforward. Sixty -- or roughly sixty -- fifty or sixty million Americans have what Newt has called socialized medicine or government-run health care. They're over -- over 65. They're Medicare. That's what Medicare is.

Now, what Obama is essentially saying is, "Let's give the choice of getting into a system like that or staying with what they have to the American people."

So if you're voting against having a public option, what you're voting against is something that 72 percent of Americans in two polls want, which is the choice. Most of them aren't going to sign up for the public option, but they think they should have the choice.

Why shouldn't they have the choice? Why should the health insurance companies have that choice?

STEPHANOPOULOS: What's the answer to that question?

GINGRICH: Well, first of all, the government option we're talking about -- let's look at where government runs the health system entirely. The Indian Health Service is a disaster. Medicaid is so corrupt and run so badly -- we just published a book at the Center for Health Transformation called "Stop Paying the Crooks," because our estimate is that government fraud between Medicare and Medicaid is between $70 billion and $120 billion a year.

Hey Newt, do you suppose - bear with me a minute here - do you think the Indian Health Service problems just might come from the deep and crippling cuts inflicted on them by people like you and your buddies? Nah, never mind.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Veterans care works pretty well.

GINGRICH: Veterans care is the one system that actually works reasonably well. But the others do not. I mean, Medicare is basically a private system with a government funding.

An amendment was offered in every committee to have the -- to have the members of Congress and their staff in any government option as a mandate. And if this is good enough for the American people, it's good enough for the politicians. In every committee, the Democrats voted no. Now, why is it they want to insist on a government-run system for -- for people other than the Congress, but the Congress and their staff would be exempt?

Second, it's not -- it's just, I think intellectually not honest to suggest that this is going to be a matter of choice. The way the bill in the House -- and we're talking about a specific bill -- the way the bill in the House would work, if your company didn't offer any insurance, they would pay an 8 percent tax on their personnel cost.

For most companies, that would be a net savings of 3 percent, 4 percent or 5 percent. One estimate by Lewin Associates (sic) is 131 million Americans will lose their private insurance and be pushed into a government plan.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Governor Dean, those arguments seem to have taken hold, at least in the Senate, where even Democrats say you're not...

DEAN: Look, let's be fair. Lewin Associates is owned by a health insurance company. So let's -- let's -- let's -- the CBO, which I think is a more reasonable organization, says 5 million or 10 million people are going to end up there.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Depends on the amount of subsidy...

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Second of all, what the speaker didn't tell you is, let's just suppose you get forced out of your employer-based system, which I think is unlikely, but let's suppose that you do. You've got a choice.

The government will pay your subsidy to either go into -- based on your income, either to go into the public option or a private option. Nobody is forcing you in to the public option.

Now, a third thing is that nobody talks about is this bill is terrific for small business, and the Blue Dogs made it a better bill, and I hope as it gets through, it gets even better.

Right now in the House bill, if you have a payroll, if you're a small business with a payroll of less than $500,000, you have no responsibility whatsoever to give your employees health insurance. That now becomes a subsidy based on your income, and then you can choose either a private or a public sector.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That's...

DEAN: This is -- this is choice. This is real choice.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That's in the House bills, but the Senate has made it pretty clear they're not going to include this public health insurance option, at least as contemplated in the House bill. The most they're going to get is co-ops...

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: No, actually, the Senate Finance -- this has already passed four out of the five committees. The Senate Finance Committee has said that, not the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, but you need 60 votes to get it through.

DEAN: We need 51 votes.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're saying...

(CROSSTALK)

GINGRICH: But if you want to see why the -- why a substantial number of Americans are very frightened, that's a good example. The Senate rules on passing reconciliation were clearly designed for budget items.

If we're now going to try to rewrite 17 percent of the economy, life and death for every American, by pretending that massive health reform is a reconciliation item and ramming it through with 51 votes, first of all, I don't think -- I think a lot of Senate Democrats (inaudible) I think the idea of stripping the Senate of its ability as a Senate to operate with some sense of discretion and ramming through something on this size will go down very badly with many senators, will go down very badly with much of the country.

But I -- I talked to Senator Grassley as -- as late as yesterday, and he made quite clear that he believes there will be no government plan and there will be no rationing in any bill that the Senate passesand that he would certainly not in any way support that. And I think Grassley's very key to Republicans.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me follow up. Senator Baucus, the Democratic chair of the Finance Committee, seems to agree on that, and he's produced a draft that gets to 95 percent coverage, 94 percent, 95 percent coverage without a public option. Why wouldn't that be good enough?

DEAN: Let me just say, A, there's no rationing in any of these bills, so we don't have to worry about that. Secondly, 95 percent coverage is good. That's terrific. The problem is, you can't afford it unless you have a public option. There's no cost control on that. Again...

STEPHANOPOULOS: He says it would come in under $1 trillion.

DEAN: Well, the House is at $60 billion a year, and the Senate would be at $100 billion a year. I don't think -- look, here's the problem with -- this is why I think the public option is so important.

The fundamental problem is that Medicare has gone up around 2 percent over the rate of inflation. That's bad. But the health care -- the private sector has gone up at two-and-a-half times the rate of inflation for 30 years.

Our economy is uncompetitive because we have an employer-based health care system. Now, I'm not advocating getting rid of an employer-based health care system, because a lot of employers like it and people in it like it. But I am advocating giving people the same choice that Congress has.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I want to get to -- really quickly, because I want to get to another issue here...

GINGRICH: Well, I just want to say, this is one of the great tragedies of how we've approached this, this year. Cost control doesn't work. I had a major hospital tell me last week they would literally go bankrupt under the House plan, because if you apply the kind of cost control without real health reform, it doesn't work.

At the Center for Health Transformation, we've outlined health reform after health reform that would save hundreds of billions of dollars, but it's fundamentally different than the way Washington thinks. And it's -- it's very frustrating to watch people -- when you say cost control, you're either ripping off the hospitals, you're ripping off the doctors, or you're ripping off somebody because cost control defined by the government means somebody gets...

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Wait a minute. You -- you -- not you personally -- but the Republicans have had times over the last -- since the last time we tried this, was 15 years, where you had the president, the House, and the Senate, and nothing happened.

GINGRICH: And they failed. I agree.

DEAN: So, OK, so we've got to do something.

GINGRICH: I'm not defending that.

DEAN: We think this will work.

STEPHANOPOULOS: One of the other claims being made about the bill -- and it's related to cost control -- is an -- and opponents are spreading the idea that the president's plan will encourage euthanasia.

Most recently, Sarah Palin, on her Facebook page yesterday -- I think it was Friday night actually -- said that, "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."

Now, as you know, Mr. Speaker, the president called that outlandish. He said...

GINGRICH: But why -- why didn't you put up what Dr. Zeke Emanuel said? Because Dr. Zeke Emanuel, who's the chief adviser to the president and brother of the chief of staff, said in writing...

STEPHANOPOULOS: He's not the chief health care adviser. He's written three articles between 1996 and 2008 that include some of those phrases...

(CROSSTALK)

GINGRICH: ... standards.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Those phrases appear nowhere in the bill. The only thing...

GINGRICH: But...

STEPHANOPOULOS: ... but let me just explain what's in the bill and then get you to respond to that. The only thing in the bill is they would allow Medicare to pay for what they say is voluntary counseling on end-of-life issues.

GINGRICH: I think people are very concerned, when you start talking about cost controls, that a bureaucracy -- we don't -- you're asking us to trust the government. Now, I'm not talking about the Obama administration. I'm talking about the government. You're asking us to decide that we believe that the government is to be trusted.

We know people who have said routinely, well, you're going to have to make decisions. You're going to have to decide. Communal standards historically is a very dangerous concept.

STEPHANOPOULOS: It's not in the bill.

GINGRICH: But the bill's -- the bill's 1,000 pages of setting up mechanisms. It sets up 45 different agencies. It has all sorts of panels. You're asking us to trust turning power over to the government, when there clearly are people in America who believe in -- in establishing euthanasia, including selective standards.

DEAN: Well, look, this is something Newt and I agree on. I don't want somebody in between the doctor and the patient. I don't want the possibility of losing your health insurance. I don't want people setting standards or denying care. That's all what we have now under the private health insurance system. That's what happens.

Look, I've practiced -- I've practiced for 10 years. My wife is still practicing. Never once did I have a Medicare bureaucrat tell me what I could or couldn't do for a patient, but all the time we have bureaucrats from the insurance companies calling up and saying, "We're not going to cover this, and we're not going to pay for that, and we're denying coverage of that."

The system we have right now is broken. We need to fix it.

I think giving the American people some choices about how to fix it makes sense.

"Obama still isn’t president in the south"

Andrew Sullivan:

Denying the leader’s American birth is just another form of racism---A naive person might believe that Barack Hussein Obama was born, as he has long said he was, in Hawaii to a young American mother and a distant father from Kenya. There are notices in two local papers and the certification of birth is filed in the state of Hawaii’s records.

An independent body — FactCheck.org — part of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, asked to see a copy of the original during last year’s campaign. FactCheck is non-partisan and takes all sorts of politicians’ claims to task. Here’s its take on Obama’s birth certificate: “FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate. We conclude that it meets all of the requirements from the State Department for proving US citizenship. Claims that the document lacks a raised seal or a signature are false. . . Our conclusion: Obama was born in the USA just as he has always said.”

You may be persuaded. Once I’d seen the short-form certificate online, verified by independent journalists and vouched for by state authorities, I was, too. But staggering numbers of Americans remain sceptical. In fact, a majority of Republican voters — 58% — either do not believe or are unsure that Obama is a natural-born American citizen. That means most Republicans believe Obama is constitutionally illegitimate in the presidency because the constitution reserves it for those born in America. The scepticism is — surprise! — concentrated in the south. In Virginia, a southern state that backed Obama last year, only 53% are sure Obama is legitimately president and 70% of Virginia Republicans either don’t believe he is an American or aren’t sure. A poll last week also found that many Republicans believe this issue has not received enough media attention.

What do they believe? The most common theory is that Obama was born in Kenya while his mother was visiting his father. The Hawaiian birth certificate exists, the sceptics claim, because Hawaii recognises as natural-born citizens those born to American mothers temporarily outside the United States. The only problem with that theory is the certificate would mention that fact and it doesn’t.

So Obama was born where all the evidence says he was: Honolulu. Why would a woman in her last month of pregnancy travel halfway around the world to deliver a child in a developing country and then bring him back home, even though he wouldn’t have had a passport? How would she get him into the United States unless someone at the border was in cahoots? “You couldn’t sell this script in Hollywood,” Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, told reporters last week.

Why does this story stay alive? Some, like me, didn’t understand the Hawaiian intricacies at first: we thought there was a single long-form certificate that could resolve the question. But, as FactCheck notes: “The Hawaii Department of Health’s birth record request form does not give the option to request a photocopy of your long-form birth certificate, but their short form has enough information to be acceptable to the State Department.” So Obama did all he could to make this go away.

Yet the conspiracists have only become more adamant. A slew of radio show hosts have fixated on the question; Lou Dobbs, CNN’s resident crank, broadcast several segments expressing doubt about Obama’s birthplace. Sean Hannity, a Fox News pundit, ran two reports on a soldier who refused to follow orders from Obama because he doubted his eligibility to be president. When Major Stefan Cook’s orders to deploy to Afghanistan were revoked, he and his lawyer took it as an admission on the part of the military that the president is not, in fact, a legitimate citizen by birth.

On cue, as Obama turned 48 last week, a Kenyan birth certificate popped up on the web. It was immediately exposed as a forgery based on a 1959 Australian birth certificate, but the pressure hasn’t let up. Obama’s legitimacy as president has been challenged in five lawsuits, all dismissed.

WorldNetDaily, the far-right website, has run countless editorials, letter-writing campaigns and billboard advertisements on the question. WND is a fringe web publication — but its fringe has, by some estimates, about 2m visitors a month.

Rush Limbaugh, the mega-chat show host, has raised the issue and Michael Savage, the rabid rightist, has said: “We’re getting ready for the communist takeover of America with a non-citizen at the helm.” Other, calmer Republican activists have denounced the so-called “birthers”. The cannier ones have argued that this issue has been drummed up by Democrats to discredit the Good Old Party (and it has). But it’s hard to accept that explains everything.

The bolder rightwingers have condemned the whole thing: radio star Michael Medved has called the birthers “crazy, nutburger, demagogue, money-hungry, exploitative, irresponsible, filthy conservative imposters”. But leading Republican politicians, aware of how powerful the conspiracy theory is among their supporters, have tried to avoid the issue. The Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, for example, told a town hall meeting last February: “Well, his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii but I haven’t seen any birth certificate”, even though a resolution on July 27 — issued on the 50th anniversary of Hawaii’s statehood — declared Obama a citizen unanimously (with some Republican abstentions).

This is the silly season. But this silly story seems to me an indication of something more ominous. The demographics tell the basic story: a black man is president and a large majority of white southerners cannot accept that, even in 2009. They grasp conspiracy theories to wish Obama — and the America he represents — away. Since white southerners comprise an increasing proportion of the 22% of Americans who still describe themselves as Republican, the GOP can neither dismiss the crankery nor move past it. The fringe defines what’s left of the Republican centre.

The chilling implication is that a large number of Americans believe the president has no right to be in office and has fraudulently manoeuvred himself there.

I hope the secret service is on alert. If we thought racial panic had ended with Obama’s election, the resilience of this story in key parts of the country is a helpful wake-up call.

Barack Obama

"Seattle metropolitan mag: does susan hutchison have the temperament for public office?"

Michael Hood:

Hot on the the line was Susan Hutchison,“From your questions, I believe you’re trying to hurt me!”

She's the Republican former teevee anchor and leading candidate for King County executive. It was a day after we interviewed her for a piece (Desperately Seeking Susan) in the new (August) Seattle Metropolitan magazine.

Hutchison, 55, looks good on paper and great in front of a mirror or a teevee camera, but substantively, and temperamentally, we found her, er, wanting. She couldn't answer policy questions, and wouldn't answer fundamental political questions, like "where do you stand on a woman's right to choose," or "who did you vote for president in 2008?"

She got visibly angry with some of our questions during the interview (the aforementioned on abortion being one) and called us at home later to clarify and reframe answers. She could be bat-her-big-eyes charming but also bristly, brittle, and defensive.

Because it was for a magazine, not a newspaper, she scolded us like an ex-girlfriend. “I thought you were going to be different!” she cried.

We talked to her in June, but space in the coffee table print magazine wouldn't allow for much of the interview. We'll be posting more, much more if she makes the November ballot (as widely expected) in the upcoming (Aug. 18) primary.

The Hutchison campaign has been able to control her media fairly well, to date. It's been a stream of press releases, and meet & greets- She's not been confronted with hard policy questions or real debate about the very knotty problems the County faces. She didn't return the questionnaire from the moving and shaking Downtown Seattle Association, certainly a potential ally for the conservative candidate.

She's made a mistake, though in alienating the local media: even the Seattle Times, a potential friend indeed, has had to fight tooth and nail for info and access.

Control slipped majorly Friday when court documents unsealed after action by the Times and others revealed that Hutchison lied to KIROTV bosses about being sick, then was spotted in Oregon on a canoe trip. She was fired a short time later after she had badmouthed the station's moral climate to the mother of a prospective intern, and confronted the station's general manager about his allegedly inappropriate relationship with an intern.

Here's the AP story.

"BBQ for Mallahan!"

Mallahan for Mayor:

With the primary election right around the corner, the Mallahan Campaign wants to get together and celebrate-- but also push through the last five days. Come join us to talk about the race, enjoy a little BBQ, and possibly score some Pearl Jam tickets!

Pearl Jam Tickets!

We have two pairs of great tickets for the Sept. 21st Key Arena show.
One pair will be auctioned off, the other pair given away.

BBQ Details
When: Thursday, August 13th at 6:30 PM
Where: Seattle’s Historic Seward Park – Picnic Location #1

Suggested minimum per-person donation - $25

Directions: Bike-friendly roads, and 10-minute access from I-5 and I-90

Register at the event, or even better online:
https://www.completecampaigns.com/public.asp?name=MallahanJoe&p...

Susie "my lips are sealed" Hutchison (with video) (Updated)

UPDATE: My partner (who prefers to remain anonymous) corrects me to say Susie never wanted the records released and Palin could also be considered a cougar.

Seattle PI and Seattle Times with video (02:36).

Howie P.S.: Judge releases records in her case against KIRO and now she says she can't comment and "defend herself." My advice to Susie would have been

"Take the 150K!" And don't go canoeing at Sunriver when you have called in sick, even if your hemorrhoids are feeling better!

If Caribou Barbie was a cougar...
Dominic Holden (The Stranger) delves deeper: "Deceptive, Delusional, Unpopular: A Portrait of Susan Hutchison." The AP story, Docs: Hutchison badmouthed, accused, lied" won't help her, either. KIRO-TV has a story that provides a few new, though minor, details and a quote from Larry Phillips.

Joe Mallahan: "Leadership for a Better Seattle" (with video)

MallahanforMayor with video (00:32):

My campaign is really picking up steam. We are working on all cylinders and we're seeing the results - KING5 released a poll yesterday showing us in second place with 19 percent; only three points behind Nickels! The timing of this momentum couldn't be better, as we enter the final stretch before the August 18th primary.

Things are really moving on this campaign. But now, as we build momentum, the primary election gets closer and closer, and we become more and more of a threat to the Nickels Machine, here come the attacks.

Just yesterday we learned that the Nickels Machine bought nearly $50,000 worth of television time for the final week. With them essentially assured of moving through the primary election, there can only be one reason for this aggressive ad buy. I've been called "the best chance for a shake up at city," "the anti-Nickels," and "the candidate most forcefully making the case that Seattle need not settle for mediocrity," - so now the Nickels Machine has set their sights on tearing down what we have worked so hard to build.

My team and I are ready for this fight - but we need your help. I would be honored if you would consider making a financial donation to my campaign. As you know, financial support is vital to making each day count before the election. We have an ambitious goal of raising another $65,000 before August 18th to stick to our campaign plan and each gift no matter how small, helps to ensure that our aggressive efforts will continue in the days that follow.

Poll:"Mallahan gains on Nickels in Seattle mayor's race"

Joel Connelly (Strange Bedfellows):

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' lead has fallen from 12 to just 3 points in the latest KING 5 news poll, with T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan picking up support from over-65 voters, independents and Republicans.

It is Mallahan's second piece of good news this week: The business executive and Obama campaign veteran placed second behind Nickels in The Washington Poll, 12 points behind the incumbent.

But the KING survey shows Mallahan moving much closer to the mayor.

In a possible response, the Nickels campaign has put another $47,000 into cable TV advertising in the last weekend before Aug. 18, the deadline date for voters to mail in their ballots.

The latest KING poll figures put Nickels at 22 percent, Mallahan at 19 percent, Sierra Club activist Mike McGinn at 15 percent, ex-Seattle SuperSonic James Donaldson at 11 percent, with Councilwoman Jan Drago trailing at 7 percent.

The latest survey shows a smaller - but still sizable - block of undecided votes.

One other candidate is climbing in the latest KING survey.

Without TV advertising - with a single part-time staffer but an active volunteer campaign - McGinn has gained support from the previous poll.

The survey was, however, taken before Drago began her television campaign. The longtime councilwoman stresses her opposition to the city's 20-cent plastic bag fee. According to the KING survey, the bag fee is headed for defeat at the polls.

In the KING poll, which surveyed 579 likely voters, Nickels maintains a 10-point lead among voters identifying themselves as Democrats. But Mallahan has pulled ahead among independents and Republicans.

Mallahan is also running ahead of the incumbent among senior voters.

University of Washington political scientist Matt Barreto, overseer of The Washington Poll, predicts that over-65 voters will turn out to be a major factor in the mid-summer primary.

He notes that the vote is coming during a month when many younger voters, and families, recreate and take vacations.

Poll: "Nickels loses ground in mayor's race"

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan.
KING 5:

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is losing ground in his bid for a third term, according to a new KING 5 News poll.

With 12 days until votes in the primary election are counted, the poll of 579 likely Seattle voters found that 22 percent would vote for Nickels. That’s down four points from an identical poll released three weeks ago. His lead on the competition has shrunk from 12 percent in the last poll to just 3 percent today.

T-Mobile executive Joe Mallahan, who just began running ads on TV, has 19 percent of the vote, up from just 8 percent three weeks ago.

"I'm delighted people are now paying attention. And as they learn about me, they seem to be excited about supporting me,” said Mallahan.

Among voters 65 and older, Mallahan leads Nickels by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Among independents and Republicans, Mallahan leads by 7 and 6 points respectively. Nickels leads by 10 percent among Democrats.

Community organizer Mike McGinn is keeping the race interesting with 15 percent of the vote. McGinn says it’s because of his consistent anti-Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel message.

“We've had volunteers for two months now calling primary voters and telling them where we stand on the issues,” said McGinn.

Only the top two vote-getters on Aug. 18 move to the November general election. The new numbers have some speculating that, after eight years in office, Nickels may not make it past the primary. Others disagree, but do say that the current numbers do not bode well for the incumbent.

“You've got 75 percent of the voters questioning whether they're going to vote for him. He should be worried about that and step up his campaign,” said Matt Barreto, a political science professor at the University of Washington.

Despite the numbers, the Nickels team appears to be determined to stay the course.

“We're gonna keep doing what we've been doing and that's go out and talk to the voters and talk to them about his record,” said Sandeep Kamshik, Nickels’ campaign spokesman.

Here’s how the other candidates are faring:

James Donaldson – 11 percent

Jan Drago – 7 percent

Elizabeth Campbell – 3 percent

Kwame Garrett – 3 percent

Norman Sigler – 1 percent

Twenty percent of likely voters are still undecided.

Mallahan: "Seattle needs to stop paving public's patience"

Joel Connelly (Strange Bedfellows):

The Seattle Department of Transportation must minimize disruption as it repairs streets while maximizing communication with disrupted businesses and neighborhoods, according to Seattle mayoral candidate Joe Mallahan.

"One of the major challenges facing the next administration is going to be managing the multiple major transportation projects that will be underway, Mallahan, a vice president at T-Mobile, said in a statement.

Incumbent Mayor Greg Nickels and SDOT, in Mallahan's words, "have shown no regard for how their actions impact Seattle residents."

"As mayor, I will make Seattle : 8px; overflow: auto; width: 400px; height: 300px; backgroundresidents and businesses a priority so they are impacted as little as possible while transportation projects in the city are underway," Mallahan argued. "Specifically, I will make sure SDOT and the city focus on four key areas: coordination, preparation, communication and quality control.

"I will create an oversight team to provide accountability in all of these areas."

The SDOT's resurfacing work disrupted auto, bicycle and foot traffic on 4th Avenue, through Belltown, for most of the spring.

The transportation department is currently repaving 2nd Avenue from Belltown through the downtown area. The arterial is a major route leading toward stadiums where the Mariners and Sounders play.

Nickels was asked about disruptions on Tuesday during an interview for a candidate profile on KPLU radio. He argued that the work is necessary and must be done during the summer.

"We are tearing up the streets and doing it during the baseball season: It's true, but that's when the weather is such that you can actually resurface streets," said Nickels, who has made much of being a Mariner fan.

Nickels conceded that blocks-long construction is "distracting" and "does delay" those using downtown arterials, adding: "But when it's done you have a street that's not going to fall apart."

"We actually have to tear them up to rebuild them," Nickels said.

Nickels has made a campaign theme of progress in road resurfacing and creation of bike lanes under the city's Bridging the Gap transportation levy.

Mallahan has focused campaign fire on SDOT, not only the snowbound streets of last December but the torn up arterials of summer.

He has promised to replace the department's director Grace Crunican. Crunican has also come under critical scrutiny from a fellow mayoral candidate, Seattle City Councilwoman Jan Drago. Drago is chairwoman of the council's transportation committee.

"We need to take our commitment to pedestrian and bicyclist safety very seriously," Mallahan said, "and do a better job of preparing sidewalks and streets so they are safe and easy to use during construction.

"I will ramp up communications with commuters and businesses about ongoing projects, preparation and planning. I will make sure we have quality control so the Streets Maintenance Division isn't tearing up projects and rebuilding them repeatedly."

In The Washington Poll, released Tuesday, Mallahan came in second place behind Nickels.

The poll, overseen by a University of Washington political scientist, found that transportation is the highest issue on voters minds: 30 percent of those surveyed listed replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct as the most important issue.

Twenty-three percent listed other transportation issues, such as SDOT's botched snow storm response last December.

Dow Constantine "Into" (video)

Dow4KingCou, video (00:31).

Howie P.S.: Dow says, "Help us put this ad on the air!‏"

Baird (D-WA) Cancels Town Halls, Fears “Brown Shirt Tactics”

Greg Sargent:

Republicans think they’ve nabbed a Dem Congressman in a bad gaffe, and are hoping to use it today to shift the argument over the town hall meetings their way.

Specifically: Dem Rep. Brian Baird of Washington State has canceled in-person town halls, citing the protestors’ use of “Brown Shirt tactics.”

The Colombian reports…

Instead of appearing in person, where “extremists” would have “the chance to shout and make YouTube videos,” Baird said Wednesday, he’s holding what he calls “telephone town halls” instead.

Baird said he’s using the new system because he fears his political opponents may be planning “an ambush” to disrupt his meetings, using methods Baird compared to Nazism.

“What we’re seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics,” Baird, D-Vancouver, said in a phone interview. “I mean that very seriously.”

Expect the GOP, and a talk show host or two, to jump on this as proof that Dem criticism of the Tea Party brigade amounts to a refusal to acknowledge legitimate dissent.

Both sides are navigating a balancing act. Republicans need to portray the outbursts as proof that public sentiment is swinging wildly against Obama — without embracing extremism and thuggery. Dems need to make the GOP “own” the extremism and thuggery without appearing dismissive of public opinion. Yesterday Robert Gibbs said he doesn’t “doubt” that some are asking “honest questions about the direction of the country.”

This Brown Shirt comparison could ratchet up the noise level a few more decibles today.

"Labor unions back county exec candidate Dow Constantine"

Seattle Times:

Labor unions have begun attacking state Rep. Ross Hunter and promoting Metropolitan King County Councilmember Dow Constantine through independent expenditures in the race for King County executive.

At the same time, abortion-rights groups and a union are trying to slow former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison's momentum with a targeted phone campaign and a mailing in the Aug. 18 vote-by-mail primary.

Contributors to the three independent campaigns have stockpiled $104,000 and say more has been pledged by other unions to the anti-Hunter campaign.

"The campaign will continue and broaden over the next few weeks to educate more voters about Rep. Hunter's record in Olympia," said Adam Glickman, spokesman for Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 775.

Ads funded by two SEIU locals and other unions appeared in left-of-center political blogs Tuesday, directing readers to a Web site that calls Hunter "a bad deal for King County" and blames him for cuts the Legislature made to education, health care and human services.

The Web page says, "Ross Hunter repeatedly voted for lower unemployment benefits for families who've lost their incomes in this recession and to cut 40,000 working families from the Basic Health Plan."

Glickman said Hunter, chairman of the House Finance committee, was "out of step" with King County voters when he supported "devastating" budget cuts earlier this year.

Hunter said Tuesday, "It's ridiculous to attack me for being part of the Democratic Legislature. We made tough choices with about a $9 billion budget shortfall. We kept core government services. We balanced the budget without raising taxes.

"These guys must want me to be 100 percent with them on every issue. ... I am not 100 percent with any interest group. I don't know how you can be. Sometimes you just have to say no to your friends."

Hunter, a former Microsoft manager, said he hasn't decided whether to put his own money into the campaign.

Two SEIU locals put up half of the $30,000 raised so far for anti-Hunter ads. Others contributing or pledging money are the Washington State Labor Council, Washington Education Association, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 21 and Sheet Metal Workers Local 66.

The SEIU Washington PAC and Washington Machinists Council have also given a combined $49,606 for pro-Constantine advertising. An initial mailing touts Constantine's environmental credentials.

Glickman said SEIU endorsed Constantine in part because it views him as the strongest candidate to take on Hutchison.

Hutchison is the target of a $25,000 phone and mail campaign funded by Planned Parenthood Votes! Washington, Washington NARAL Now You Know PAC and the Washington State Council of County and City Employees.

The Clinton Group, Washington, D.C.-based political consultants, began placing phone calls Saturday that tell voters Hutchison "would be a disaster for women and families in King County."

A script for callers raises questions about the future of nine King County family-planning clinics and links Hutchison to "conservative Republicans, like Mike Huckabee, who are against a woman's right to choose, even in cases of rape and incest."

Hutchison said Tuesday, "I think they're using hackneyed partisan politics to divide our citizens and introduce issues that are not relevant to this campaign. I have made clear from the start that I did not get into this race to divide people but to bring people together to solve the complex problems of our county."

She said she didn't know Huckabee's position on abortion and, regarding the implication that she might want to cut family-planning services, said, "I have one word — ridiculous."

The independent campaign against Hutchison has something in common with Constantine's own campaign: treasurer Jason Bennett.

Bennett said Tuesday he is submitting a corrected form to the state Public Disclosure Commission clarifying that he performs only limited financial-reporting functions for the two campaigns and isn't involved in discussions of campaign strategy.

Also running for executive are County Councilmember Larry Phillips, state Sen. Fred Jarrett, engineer and former municipal public-works director Alan Lobdell, investor Goodspaceguy, and physicist and disbarred attorney Stan Lippmann.

DNC launches new ad "Enough of the Mob." (with video)

AMERICAblog with video (01:05):

Sam Stein reported yesterday that Obama is still talking about the need for a bipartisan health insurance reform bill during his lunch with Senators.:

[Obama] also insisted, according to an administration aide, that he remained committed to working with the Republican Party to get reform passed.

Okay. If Obama is still committed to working with Republicans, he really needs to see this ad produced by the DNC. Because this is the GOP. The people in these mobs are the GOP base. They will not let the GOP leadership accept any of Obama's core principles for reform.

Bipartisan with this mob? Not going to happen. Stop worrying about the process and focus on the result.

Howie P.S.: Greg Sargent comments.

Countdown: Markos on "Politics in the digital age" (video)

MSNBC-Countdown, video (06:56).

KING 5 Poll: "Hutchison, Constantine headed for showdown"

KING 5:

With two weeks to go until votes are counted in the primary for King County Executive, it appears former TV news anchor Susan Hutchison will likely be facing off with King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, according to a new KING 5 News poll.

The poll, conducted last weekend by SurveyUSA, shows Hutchison would get 39 percent of the vote if the election were held today. That’s unchanged from a similar poll three weeks ago.

Constantine takes 13 percent of the vote, up one point from the last poll.

Here’s how other candidates ranked:

-Sen. Fred Jarrett - 8 percent

-Rep. Ross Hunter – 8 percent

-King Co. Councilmember Larry Phillips – 6 percent

-Stan Lippmann – 2 percent

-Alan Lobdell – 2 percent

-Goodspaceguy – 2 percent

Twenty percent of the 606 likely voters polled say they are still undecided, so the race for second could change dramatically.

Only the top two candidates in the primary will advance to November’s general election.

Hutchison has been the clear leader in the polls since announcing her candidacy, which political strategists say is not a surprise given her name recognition after years as a news anchor.

Hutchison lawsuit records

A judge is expected to rule on Friday whether to unseal the records of a discrimination lawsuit filed by Hutchison against her former employer, KIRO-TV.

In 2003, Hutchison claimed age and race discrimination when she was replaced on the anchor desk by a young, Asian woman. The Seattle Times requested to have those records released to provide a better picture of the candidate. Several other media outlets, including KING-TV and Northwest Cable News, have joined the request.

Hutchison is fighting the release, saying she’s doing so in part to protect the privacy rights of others who may file suit against their employers.

Published reports indicate there may be issues of whether Hutchison collected disability pay when she was able to work after she left KIRO-TV.

Hutchison’s attorney, Jon Rosen, says he plans to appeal if the ruling goes against Hutchison.

It’s happening here: "Faux health care outrage"

Jon DeVore (HA Seattle):

It’s happening here.

Then Cong. Smith asked for comments, and the comments began. The first question: would this new plan include tax payer support for abortion? The next question, from one of the young fellas sitting in front of me: on page … of the House bill, (reading from a copy he had obtained from the internet) it says plainly that if an individual elects the public insurance option, he can never ever have private insurance again. Then many people in the room started to vocalize and clap, drowning out Cong. Smith’s response, and shouting arguments to him.

He asked for people to line up at the microphones for comments. Many people did line up… They spoke of their distrust of the government; the post office, social security, etc; they did not want their health care in the hands of bureaucrats. Several people said in a very angry tone of voice, I just want you (Cong. Smith) to be the first to take this new public insurance, and see how YOU like it. At this, the people in the room jeered, some shook their fists, some said angrily Yeah!

When Cong Smith then took a question from an elderly person sitting up front, who had not lined up at the microphone, a young man shouted loudly that she should wait her turn, why did HE have to stand up if she didn’t… Much supportive vocalization from the seated people. More comments from the next person at the microphone: People who are uninsured now can afford to buy insurance, they just don’t. Many people qualify for medicaid and they just don’t bother. The statistics of infant mortality (the US being number 42 or so in industrialized countries) are false…

So um, hey, maybe reporters could say, walk up to these “opponents” and ask them basic stuff. It wouldn’t be that hard, if there were reporters available and if they knew how to do their jobs and stuff. Just an idea. I guess it’s kind of hard to do since so many veteran political reporters are not working for newspapers any longer. All this “anger,” and nobody to cover it. If editorial boards ever caught wind of this from reading their own newspapers, fainting couches and smelling salts would be in darn short supply. There is nothing more horrible than partisan incivility, as the editorial boards so frequently remind us.

Howie P.S.: Jonathan Alter tells Lawrence O'Donnell why the health care status quo sucks. Then Mark Warner gives us a few more examples.

Olbermann Rant: "Legislators for sale" (with text and video)

MSNBC-Countdown, with text and video (13:26):

Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on Health Care Reform in this country, and in particular, the "public insurance option." In March of 1911, after a wave of minor factory fires in New York City, the City's Fire Commissioner issued emergency rules about fire prevention, protection, escape, sprinklers. The City's Manufacturers Association in turn called an emergency meeting to attack the Fire Commissioner and his 'interference with commerce.'

The new rules were delayed. Just days later, a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The door to the fire escape was bolted shut to keep the employees from leaving prematurely. One hundred and fifty of those employees died, many by jumping from the seventh floor windows to avoid the flames. Firefighters setting up their ladders literally had to dodge the falling, often burning, women. This was the spirit of the American corporation then. It is the spirit of the American corporation now. It is what the corporation will do, when it is left alone, for a week. You know the drill. We all know the drill.

You get something done, at a doctor's, at a dentist's, at an emergency room and the bills are in your hands before the pain medication wears off. And if you're one of the lucky ones, and you have insurance, you submit the endless paperwork and no matter whether it's insurance through your company, or your union, or your non-profit, or on your own dime, you then get your turn… at the roulette wheel.

How much of it is the insurance company going to pay this time? How much of it is the insurance company — about which you have next to no choice, and against which you have virtually no appeal — how much is this giant corporation going to give you back? What small percentage of what they told you they were going to pay you, will they actually pay you?
You know the answer. And, you know the answer if you don't have insurance. But do you know why that's the answer?

Because the insurance industry owns the Republican Party. Not exclusively. Pharma owns part of it, too. Hospitals and HMO's, another part. Nursing homes — they have a share. You name a Republican, any Republican, and he is literally brought to you by... campaign donations from the Health Sector. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota? You gave the Republican rebuttal to the President's weekly address day before yesterday. You said the Democrats' plan was for…
"…government run health care that would disrupt our current system, and force millions of Americans who currently enjoy their employer-based coverage into a new health care plan run by government bureaucrats."

That's a bald-faced lie, Senator. And you're a bald-faced liar, whose bald face is covered by…your own health care plan run by government bureaucrats. Nobody would be forced into anything; and the Public Insurance Option is no more a disruption than letting the government sell you water, and not just Poland Spring and Sparkletts. But, as corrupt hypocrites go, Senator, at least you're well paid. What was that one statement worth to you in contributions from the Health Sector, Sen. Thune?

Five thousand dollars? Ten? We know what you are, Sir, we're arguing about the price. What about your other quote? "We can accomplish health care reform while keeping patients and their doctors in charge, not bureaucrats and politicians." Wow, Senator — this illustrates how desperate you and the other Republicans are, right? Because Sen. Thune, if you really think "bureaucrats and politicians" need to get out of the way of "patients and their doctors," then you support a woman patient's right to get an abortion, and you supported Michael Schiavo's right to take his wife off life support, and you oppose "bureaucrats and politicians" getting in the way, and we'll just mark you down on the pro-choice list. That's a rare misstep for you Sen. Thune. No twelve-thousand dollar payoff for that statement! I am not being hyperbolic, am I, Senator? On the money?

Sen. Thune has thus far received from the Health Sector, campaign contributions — and all these numbers tonight are from "The Center For Responsive Politics" — campaign contributions amounting to one million, $206,176. So much for Sen. Thune. How about Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite? Good evening Ma'am. You are the Florida representative who claimed on the Floor that Democrats had…"…released a health care bill which essentially said to America's seniors: drop dead."

Now those are strong, terrorizing, words — that's exactly what your Insurance and Medical Overlords wanted to hear. But are you truly worth every dollar of the $369,000,255 of them you have received over the years from the Health Sector? I'd reed the rest of the operative part of your speech myself, but your rendition actually cannot be matched:
Listen up, America, seniors have special needs. This bill ignored the, ignores the needs of Florida's health care system. We should be fixing what is broke. Not disseminate, disseminating, decimating, the care of our senior population. -- July 21, 2009

You can always tell, can't you, Congresswoman, when the hostage is reading her own ransom note, and when she is reading one written for her? So much for Rep. Brown-Waite. There are so many other Republicans, bought and sold — like the unfortunate Congresswoman there —by the Health Sector.

Minority Leader McConnell of the Senate?

You're worth $3.1 million to the Health Sector? A million and a half just for last year's election? And I'm supposed to think you aren't a sellout, a liar, a paid spokesman, a shill, a carnival barker? So much for Sen. McConnell. Rep. Joe Barton of Oklahoma — $2,660,000, Congressman? That's ten times what Sen. Robert Byrd has accepted from the Health Sector.
Congressman! What a guy! So much for Rep. Barton. Sen. McCain — $1.6?

To serve the Hospitals, and the Drug Companies, and the Nursing Homes? And not to serve the retirement communities of Arizona? Or the cancer survivors? Or the veterans? So much for Sen. McCain. I could go on all night and never exaggerate in the slightest.

PBS pointed out that the health and insurance industries are spending more than a million, $400,000 a day, just to destroy the "public option" - the truly non-profit, wieldy, round-up and not round-down, government, from helping you pay your medical bills with about a billionth of the recklessness with which it is still paying Halliburton and its spin-offs to kill your kids.

And much of this money is going to, and through, Republicans. But that's the real point tonight.
Not all of it is going through Republicans. Because the evil truth is, the Insurance industry, along with Hospitals, HMO's, Pharma, nursing homes — it owns Democrats, too.
Not the whole party.

Candidate Barack Obama got more than $18 million from the Health Sector just last year. And you can bet somebody in the Health Trust, somebody responsible for buying influence, got fired over what Obama's done. No, the Democrats are not wholly owned. Hundreds of Democrats have taken campaign money from the Health Sector without handing over their souls as receipts. But conveniently, the ones who are owned, have made themselves easy to spot in a crowd.

They've called themselves "Blue Dogs," and they are out there, hand-in-hand with the Republicans who they are happy to condemn day and night on everything else, throatily singing "Kumbaya" with the men and women who were bought and sold to defend this con game of an American health care system against the slightest encroachment.

Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas. Leader of the Blue Dogs in the House. You're the guy demanding a guarantee that Reform won't add to the deficit. I'm guessing you forgot to demand that about, say, Iraq. You're a Democrat, you say, Congressman? You saw what Sandy Barham said?

Sandy Barham is 62 years old, she's got a bad heart, and she's hoping her valves will hold together for three more years until Medicaid kicks in, because she can't afford insurance.
Not just for herself, mind you. For her employees. She needs the public option. So do those six people who work at that restaurant of hers, Rep. Ross. And why should you give a crap?
Because Sandy Barham's restaurant is the Broadway Railroad Café, and it is at 123 West First Street North in Prescott, Arkansas.

Prescott, Arkansas, Rep. Ross. Your home town. You are Sandy Barham's congressman. Hers, Sir. Not Blue Cross's and Blue Shield's, even if they do insure 75% of the state and they own you. The top donor so far to Congressman Ross's bid for re-election next year? The Blue Dog PAC — $10,000. Second? Something called Invacare — $7,300. Oh, they make wheelchairs and rollers. And slings, they're big in slings. Tied for third? The American Dental Association, another $5,000.

Your top donors by industry, Rep. Ross? Health professionals: $29,250. Then, Pharma and Health products: $12,250. And so far in your career, Rep. Ross, your total haul from the Health Sector is $921,000. That's 90th in the combined list of donations for the House and the Senate, Sir. 90th out of 537. You should be proud, Congressman!

Except for the fact, that before you started living off the public dime, you owned a pharmacy. And your grandmother was a nurse. And turns out you're not Sandy Barham's congressman, you're Blue Cross's. So much or Rep. Ross.

Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee. Congressman? Undecided on the public option? At $1,173,000 in donations from the Health Sector, I'm surprised. You should have already said no — and loudly. The only thing you should be "undecided" about, is whether or not you're really a Democrat. So much for Rep. Gordon. Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. Good evening, Senator.

So you're supposed to be negotiating all this out with the Republicans and hesitant Democrats? To gain bi-partisanship with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Health Sector? Bi-partisanship that will get you, what? A total of no votes? And your price has been, let's see $414,000 in donations from Hospitals. About $667,000 from the insurance companies and just over a million from Big Pharma. There was a $1,300,000 from other health professional and $237,000 from Nursing Homes.

When you think of getting $237,000 in campaign contributions from nursing homes, Sen. Baucus, do you ever think about whether they subtract that amount of money evenly from all the patients suffering and dying in the lousy ones, or just from a few of the lousy ones? So much for Sen. Baucus. Sadly, this list could go on almost all night, too.

I could ask Blue Dog Congressman, Democrat John Tanner of Tennessee, if, since he's gotten $215,000 from hospitals over the years, if I and the appropriate number of my friends were willing to make it $216,000, if we could buy his vote — or would there have to be an auction?
We could bring up Senator Hagan, and Congressman Pomeroy, who, at 628-thousand, appears to represent the Insurance Industry and not North Dakota. I could bring up Sen. Carper, and Sen.Blanche Lincoln.

Senator Lincoln? By the way, considering how you're obstructing health care reform, how do you feel... every time you actually see Sen. Kennedy? I could bring up all the other Democrats doing their masters' bidding in the House or the Senate, all the others who will get an extra thousand from somebody if they just postpone the vote another year, another month, another week, because right now without the competition of a government-funded insurance company, in one hour the health care industries can make so much money that they'd kill you for that extra hour of profit, I could call them all out by name.

But I think you get the point. We don't need to call the Democrats holding this up Blue Dogs. That one word "Dogs" is perfectly sufficient. But let me speak to them collectively, anyway.I warn you all. You were not elected to create a Democratic majority. You were elected to restore this country. You were not elected to serve the corporations and the trusts who the government has enabled for the last eight years.

You were elected to serve the people. And if you fail to pass or support this legislation, the full wrath of the progressive and the moderate movements in this country will come down on your heads. Explain yourselves not to me, but to them. They elected you, and in the blink of an eye, they will replace you.

If you will behave as if you are Republicans — as if you are the prostitutes of our system —you will be judged as such. And you will lose not merely our respect. You will lose your jobs!

Every poll, every analysis, every vote, every region of this country supports health care reform, and the essential great leveling agent of a government-funded alternative to the unchecked duopoly of profiteering private insurance corporations. Cross us all at your peril.
Because, Rep. Ross, you are not the Representative from Blue Cross.

And Mr. Baucus, you are not the Senator from Schering-Plough Global Health Care even if they have already given you $76,000 towards your re-election. And Ms. Lincoln, you are not the Senator from DaVita Dialysis.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, President Lincoln did not promise that this nation shall have a new death of freedom, and that government of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation, shall not perish from this earth.

Good night and good luck.

Seattle Elections: "On the Campaign Trail with Dorsol Plants"

dinazina (WashBlog):

Young, gifted and endowed with a funny name and a "calling" to public service. Maybe an antidote to a persistent case of cynicism that seems to be spreading on this esteemed forum?

Late last year, I described Dorsol Plants' announcement of his upcoming candidacy to his Highland Park neighbors (right) as chair of their community action group.

Since then, the Iraq war veteran and community organizer with a brazen ambition for a 24-year-old from West Virginia has acquired some things a candidate for Seattle City Council should have:
a suit and tie, a selection of publicity photos, a campaign website, a manager, an air of modest confidence, and a collection of endorsements.

He cleans up well!

Introductions often begin with confusion: What's a Dorsol? She's running for City Council? - oh, it's a guy? Did you say Dorsol? Plants as in plants? And sometimes: Is there an election coming up?

More below:

Dorsol is a fine speaker and listener who does his homework. He has more than held his own among the dozen other City Council candidates competing for attention on public forums throughout the city, some of whom come wrapped in 30 years of experience, or have the security of a sizeable campaign chest.

Dorsol surprised a lot of people in July by winning an endorsement (with David Bloom) from the influential King County Democrats, AND words of praise from P-I curmudgeon Joel Connelly:
"City challengers gain ground on incumbents: Mallahan mixes it with the mayor while Plants begins to blossom"

This was followed by an endorsement (dual) from the 34th LD, where he enjoys the solid support of Ivan Weiss and many other members, and from the KC Young Democrats.

Dorsol has attended several Republican party events as well. Of course no endorsement was forthcoming - he acknowledged being a Democrat - but the Seattle Repubs seemed to respect his presence before them and his military experience. He may have won a few votes.

Dorsol did not fear to walk with Zombies (above) in Fremont, accompanied by Zombified supporters. He was the ONLY candidate in sight at the annual Fremont Zombie walk.

In the Gay Pride parade (above), Dorsol was the ONLY candidate to have an iconic escort - Mother Nature. True, some onlookers were confused, believing HER to be Dorsol Plants, but he did introduce himself to many voters.

Since then it's gotten very interesting.

Above, at the Central/Capitol Hill District Forum, the candidate in the center has just failed to answer several questions and handed off the mike to Dorsol, who had no problem.

At the Southeast Candidate Forum (above)hosted by Peter Masindire (Obama organizer), Dorsol left thinking he might have made a error in answering the final question about public safety by comparing the SE district situation to his experience patrolling the streets of Baghdad. But in fact he won the straw poll of attendees that was taken right after.

A reporter from Crosscut challenged him to come up with 100 ideas for Seattle - so here they are. By the way, one of those is publicly financed campaigns, and this is prominently stated on the 100 Ideas page. Dorsol signed the Candidates' Pledge for Washington Public Campaigns 6 months ago.

Top vote in "Candidate Survivor"

In the most entertaining candidate forum of the season, a large field of 09 City Council candidates, wearing track suits, were put through an amusing series of qualification rounds and some eliminated by audience text-message vote.

As the youngest candidate, Dorsol (in white tee at left) was an early favorite of the youthful audience and continued to win enthusiasm. Dorsol's "2-minute talent" demonstrated self-defense moves and ended with a drop to the floor and five one-handed pushups.
Photos on Flickr

The event at the Showbox was sponsored by Washington Bus and The Stranger to motivate young voters to participate in an off-year primary. After being crowned with a rhinestone tiara, Dorsol received multiple offers of volunteer help. "I am a politician, not a rock star," he reminded some who seemed a bit starstruck. But after the show, he pulled up his shirt several times to display rippling abdominal tattoos to fascinated fans, many of who took snaps with their cellphones.
Seattle P-I: Your skinny dipping Seattle City Council candidates

The intoxicating triumph of "Candidate Survivor" was followed up this week by The Stranger's endorsement of Dorsol for City council position 4.

Volunteering to help Dorsol with his campaign is gratifying - it's starting to remind me of the heady days of Dean for America 04. That's a bit of a stretch, but it truly is a grassroots campaign for an exceptional, deserving candidate, and this one I know personally. Well, grassroots would be a step up, actually...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here is an email from a voter that Dorsol shared with me:

"Greetings Mr. Plants,
I just received my vote-by-mail package. You appear to be an interesting candidate for the City Council #4. I checked out your website too. Good Luck at this, Seattle needs some new blood on the council and I hope that at the very least your candidacy shakes a few members who are way too comfortable in their chairs. I will be looking forward to seeing how many others share my opinion.

-A voter

Dorsol Plants will be 25 in a few weeks.

Howie P.S.: Other news in Seattle elections:"Bob Santos Endorses Mallahan."

THELONIOUS MONK QUARTET - 'ROUND MIDNIGHT (video)

sukapura, video (06:54).

Howie P.S.: As a teenager, the coolest thing I could imagine was being the drummer in this quartet.

"Congress goes on holiday" (video)

Guardian UK, video (03:20):

American editor at large Michael Tomasky talks about what members of Congress are likely to hear when they head home for the summer recess.

Krugman: "Health reform made simple"

Paul Krugman (NY Times):

Kudos to the Times for a story that, for once, emphasizes the remarkable unity of vision health reformers are showing, rather than the squabbles that are an inevitable part of passing major legislation.

The essence is really quite simple: regulation of insurers, so that they can’t cherry-pick only the healthy, and subsidies, so that all Americans can afford insurance.

Everything else is about making that core work. Individual mandates are a way to prevent gaming of the system by people who don’t sign up until they’re sick; employer mandates a way to hold down the on-budget costs by preventing a rush by employers to drop insurance; the public option a way to create effective competition and hold costs down further.

But what it means for the individual will be that insurers can’t reject you, and if your income is relatively low, the government will help pay your premiums.

That’s it. Any commentator who whines that he just doesn’t understand it is basically saying that he doesn’t want to understand it.

"Right-Wing Harassment Strategy Against Dems Detailed In Memo: ‘Yell,’ ‘Stand Up And Shout Out,’ ‘Rattle Him’ "

Think Progress:

This morning, Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being harassed by “angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior” at local town halls. For example, in one incident, right-wing protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety.

This growing phenomenon is often marked by violence and absurdity. Recently, right-wing demonstrators hung Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) in effigy outside of his office. Missing from the reporting of these stories is the fact that much of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists who have a stake in opposing President Obama’s reforms.

The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress:

– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”

The memo above also resembles the talking points being distributed by FreedomWorks for pushing an anti-health reform assault all summer. Patients United, a front group maintained by Americans for Prosperity, is currently busing people all over the country for more protests against Democratic members. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the NRCC, has endorsed the strategy, telling the Politico the days of civil town halls are now “over.”

Meanwhile, AHIP, the trade group and lobbying juggernaut representing the health insurance industry is sending staffers to monitor town halls and other right-wing front groups are stepping up their ad campaign to smear reform efforts. The strategy for defeating reform — recently outlined by an influential lobbyist to the Hill newspaper as “delay” then “kill” — is becoming apparent.

By delaying a vote until after the August recess, lobbyists are now seizing upon recess town halls as opportunities to ambush lawmakers and fool them into believing there is wide opposition to reform.

"War over health care turns ugly" (video)

MSNBC-Countdown, video (09:27).

Howie P.S.: David Axelrod talks with Richard Wolffe about the fight for health care reform. Wolffe talks about efforts by health care reform opponents to disrupt congressional town meetings during the August recess. This may explain why in the Evergreen state

"after fairly methodical searching of the Web sites of both senators and, more important for the health care debate, Congressman Reichert, I can't find any mention of constituent meetings in the state scheduled for August."

Or maybe they just want to avoid meeting with their constituents outside the Beltway and are in hiding at some undisclosed locations. Wolffe and Howard Fineman also report on the opponents' efforts to turn "Health care into health scare" (video, 05:56).

Howard Dean and Eugene Robinson: Over but not done with---"Anticipating the Beer Summit" (video)

jamesmyers3. video (09:53).

H/t to Darryl.

NPR: Seattle Cupcake Goddess Supports Health Care Public Option (with audio)

Jody Hall, the owner of Cupcake Royale in Seattle, is struggling to pay for escalating health insurance premiums for her employees. She supports a proposal to create an insurance plan offered by the federal government. Courtesy of Cupcake Royale.

NPR, with audio (04:35):

Jody Hall, who owns Seattle's Cupcake Royale, now pays as much in health insurance for her employees as she does in rent for four choice Seattle storefronts.

A majority of working Americans are employed by small businesses, but according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 6 in 10 small businesses provide health care. What's more, the National Federation of Independent Business reports that small companies pay substantially more in premiums than large firms do. Hall, for example, has just three or four insurers to choose from, and she says they won't negotiate on price.

Eating Profits

Hall is passionate about her cupcakes, made daily from scratch with only premium ingredients and no stabilizers or preservatives. They are frosted by hand, one at a time, and they dazzle. Lemon, lavender, triple-threat chocolate and fresh strawberry are just a few of the choices.

The bakery-cafe owner values her 70 or so employees and provides them with health insurance, but it isn't easy or cheap.

Most of the cupcakes sell for $2.50 each; about 10 percent of that — 25 cents of each cupcake — goes to pay for health care.

"It's definitely eating a big share of our profit. We don't have to offer health insurance," she says, adding, "But I think it adds value to the people that work here and we can find better people to work here because of that."

Employee Jessie Martin, who does marketing and design work, says, "It's really great to work for a small-business owner who finds benefits that important and is working really hard to make sure we get them."

But Hall says something has to be done about the expense of providing health coverage. She says her premiums have increased 20 percent in each of the past few years, and a couple of years ago, they went up 40 percent.

"It's unsustainable to manage that kind of expense hike, so we are forced to cut our quality of coverage to make it more affordable, and that doesn't do much for society," she says." A lot of small businesses are doing that or cutting insurance altogether."

A National Debate

Hall has become very involved in the national debate involving health care reform and recently attended a small-business roundtable at the White House on the subject.

She supports what's known as the public option, a proposal to create an insurance plan offered by the federal government that would compete with private insurers.

Proponents say it would lower premiums, result in better coverage for more people and in the long run, lower health care costs. But opponents of the plan — including the nation's largest small-business trade association — dispute that. The NFIB says we should look to the private sector for more competition and lower costs.

The public option is just one element of the Obama health care package, which has a $1 trillion price tag spread over 10 years. How to pay for it, and more fundamentally, what that reform should look like, remain matters of intense debate for small-business owners like Hall.

Howie P.S.: H/t to Derek Birnie. Meanwhile, inside the Beltway the fight continues: "Senators Murray & Cantwell on prognosis for healthcare reform: A tough path ahead."